What an interesting two weeks have gone by in the world of politics. Two conventions and a hurricane pretty much describe the pollution and fog flying through the air, but hey, it's a four-year cycle. What else can we expect?
I was sent this little story that sums up much of what I feel as we move toward the November elections.
A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture
in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud
towards him.
The driver, a young man in a Armani suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and
YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, 'If I tell you exactly
how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?'
Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully
grazing herd and calmly answers, 'Sure, Why not?'
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer,connects it
to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the
Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his
location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area
in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it
to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany ..
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has
been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database
through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry
and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-Tech
Miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the cowboy and says,
'You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.'
'That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,' says Bud.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as
the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then Bud says to the young man, 'Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your
business is, will you give me back my calf?'
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, 'Okay, why not?'
'You're a Congressman for the U.S. Government', says Bud.
'Wow! That's correct,' says the yuppie, 'but how did you guess that?'
'No guessing required.' answered the cowboy. 'You showed up here even though
nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew,to a
question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you
are; and you don't know a thing about cows...this is a herd of sheep. . . .
Now give me back my dog!
Some have asked what I feel the root issues might be....I have no difficulty telling them what I think. So, I'll recap it for you, just in case you are wondering.
The First Big Issue is the BIGGEST ISSUE.....LIFE! We have a stark contrast in front of us and it isn't hard to choose. Life is the most precious commodity given us by God. It begins at conception, and is re-started upon receiving the Lordship of Christ when we repent of our sins. One candidate believes this....the other feels that kind of determination is above his pay grade....though he has no difficulty voting for a law which allows the killing of an already born infant that survives a botched abortion. Wow!
The Second Big Issue is how the occupant of the Oval Office leads the country in regards to Israel. One candidate believes firmly in maintaining and defending a united Jerusalem without appeasing terrorists. (Now, not all Palestinians are terrorists...Jamas is!) The other candidate goes with the flow. This clearly tells you that when the flow of world opinion turns against Israel, so will he. He's already proven it.
The Third Big Issue is the size and scope of the Federal Government. One candidate wants to exponentially increase the power of Washington....and the only way, I repeat: the only way that can happen is to increase taxes exponentially. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that raising taxes on anyone or any corporation takes money out of the pockets of the populace. You want high prices? Vote for bigger government. You'll get your wish. The other candidate seems to want to slash the size of Washington! I like that!
There are many other issues that are important.....but one MUST look at them from a moral perspective first, not from the financial. By virtue of being a follower of Christ and the absolute, unbending truth of the Word of God, I must consider first the moral inclinations of a candidates beliefs and voting record, then choose accordingly.
In this election....for me....the choice is clear. If I could put Jesus as a right-in candidate I would. I can't....so....I will vote McCain/Palin and for every Gubernatorial, Senatorial, Congressional, etc...candidate who holds the same moral stance on these issues, be they Democrat or Republican! There you have it.
Happy Consideration,
Pastor Jim
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